I think the biggest deal is that when elected officials paychecks come from taxpayer money, the public feels like spending that money on prostitutes isn’t what we’re paying them to do.

I hate this argument. If you pay taxes, and taxes pay someone’s salary.. so what? If the guy was paid… the money is his. I don’t care if he spends it on crack, whores, and illegal weapons. My payment of taxes, the payment of a public servant’s salary, and how that personal income is spent by said public servant are all separate, discrete, uncorrelated events.

I would also never partake of prostitution (not even in Amsterdam when I was there, where it is legal)- it just isn’t for me. But, yeah, who cares. If someone wants to sell someone else the privilege of punching him in the face or sex or whatever… who cares?

The government needs to be involved in people’s private lives as little as possible. Go build some roads or put new roofs on some schools and quit worrying about who’s doing what with their own bodies.

(2) Whether frequenting a prostitute is sufficiently immoral (or just undesirable, if immoral is too strong a word) that someone who pays for it shouldn’t be holding high office.

The two aren’t necessarily the same question.

I certainly don’t think johns should be holding high public offices.

Criminalization is a thornier issue in my mind, but at the end of the day, I think there are good reasons for keeping it criminalized, even in full awareness of the fact that completely eradicating the practice is a pipe dream. The Dutch experiment with legalization has not gone as smoothly as many Western media have suggested, and a growing number of Dutch legislators are considering calling it a failed experiment and recriminalizing it.

I loathe prosecuters. This excites me to no end to see Spitzer get nailed. However, yeah… I have to agree that prostitution should be legalized and regulated. Counties, states, cities, etc… can decide if they want it in their limits.

I really want to know why the bank went to the FBI, and didn’t contact Spitzer on whether or not these transactions were legit. Perhaps I missed something, and this was covered. However, I do sense there is something to that. Politically even.

Seems like prostitution is pretty well legal now depending on what you call it. Escort or whore. Go look at the personals on Craigslist, somewhere there is a place where the escorts advertise. Its a forum for prostitution. I know the police watch it and yet we hear very little of arrests coming out of it.

… The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous. He can have citizens investigated and, if he is that kind of person, he can have this done to the tune of public statements and veiled or unveiled intimations. … While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst.

Unfortunately… I have known/met some of the worst. They do not care about guilt, but rather about their own win percentage. If you are not guilty, yet they can convict you, they almost take extra pleasure in your conviction. On the other hand, I have met some fed up judges that sort of counter balanced the corrupt prosecutors.

MatthewJR30 wrote Seems like prostitution is pretty well legal now depending on what you call it. Escort or whore. Go look at the personals on Craigslist, somewhere there is a place where the escorts advertise. Its a forum for prostitution. I know the police watch it and yet we hear very little of arrests coming out of it.